


A Challenger Approaches!

by ArtificialTVirus



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Board Games, Bonding, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Game Night, Gen, Halloween, Humor, Possession, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtificialTVirus/pseuds/ArtificialTVirus
Summary: It's Halloween! And what other way to spend it with your friends.Except the said friend beat you in a duel three times in a row and now you must redeem yourself in another type of game.One with... more people. And monsters.Far more competitive people and monsters.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	A Challenger Approaches!

**Author's Note:**

> what a shitty halloween this year
> 
> oh well

“And happy holidays back to you Jess!”

Holidays – not much of a plural as said there; it was more simplified this time. It was _just_ Halloween. The ‘spoopy’ month as they called it. The one with witches if you dug its history deep enough. And the one with an excuse to pretend you had plans with your best friend for the night.

When did they _ever_ have plans?

“Won’t be so happy once I beat you!”

Not when the brunette _traveled the world_ and the Light wouldn’t exactly wait for anyone’s schedule.

“Fourth rematch?! Game on!”

But it subdued – for now. Enough for them to hang out on Halloween at the very least.

“Naaah, I think you’ll get sick if ya lose the fourth time in a row,”

Jesse teased, tone and expression playing all around the high and mighty wins he somehow succeeded.

How does his best friend even _fight_ the entity if he can’t even win against _him?_

Maybe he straight up engages in a physical battle. Maybe the Light was punchable, or something. That thought… didn’t seem too off, and a part of him hated that fact. His best friend was to type to turn the saying of ‘pick your battles’ into ‘pick all of them.’

“Bold! I’ll beat you this time!”

Taking out a drawer with the card pack through the shuffling, Jesse did smile at that.

“Maybe! But it won’t be with duelin’,”

Now _that_ piqued some interest.

“Wha’cha got in mind?”

That puff of brown hair was already up in the other's face, sniffling around to poke and find what was in the crater.

“I got this board game, it’s supposedly really fun,”

Jaden looked up, half-doubting the keyword of that sentence.

“‘ _Supposedly’_ , Jesse?”

“I didn’t get to play it yet!”

The bluenette defended himself, and lightly shoved Jaden out of his face to have space and spread the pack of cards on the floor.

“Alright, shoot how it works,”

Yes. Explain. That was the plan. That was…

That was the part he forgot.

That was the part that they told him ' _The game doesn’t come with instruction papers. It’s more of a conversation game, with who can lie the best,'_

Yet, he still somehow – forgot.

“W-well, I forgot a bit what they told me but it’s basically-“ Some of the cards were picked up, studied; how hard can it be? “—You just, uhh, kind of…” The brunette as well tried to figure out some of the instructions, rummaging through the cards and the small packaging. “—Ahh it’s one of those!”

His friend looked up expectantly.

“One of those?”

Jaden nodded, eager to explain.

“Yeah! Alright, so—”

* * *

And it turns out the explanation wasn’t difficult at all. By no means an excuse not to forget it, but it’s no surprise that the game was with no manual.

It was, quite literally, ‘Who lies best?’.

Good for the world that both Jesse Anderson and Jaden Yuki were equally as bad.

And just as they were about to start;

“Says here it’s for two to four players though…”

Which, made sense. There was no challenge when the choice would be none other than the only other person you’re playing with. Jesse muttered out a low ‘oh’ and shrugged his face as well; both men thinking in silence of how to continue.

“What now?”

“Mmmm,”

"Hmmm"

Thinking and thinking and _thinking_ and—

“Hey, I know!”

The bluenette looked up at his best friend, with sincere curiosity as to what Jaden thought upon. To him, the situation was already done and hopeless.

“You and I aren’t really ever alone, right?”

A smile, and a smile returned, though Jesse scratched his face.

“I see where you’re goin’, but I don’t think any of the Crystal Beasts or Kuriboh can really learn this…”

“Actually, I wasn’t thinking about them,”

Teal eyes looked up again.

“Lemme jus’… uh, Haou can be difficult _most_ of the time,”

It took a second to remember just who ‘Haou’ was and what exactly Jaden was doing – as he entirely spaced out, at least on the outside, but then give and take some moments and alongside the fiendish monster spirit formatted the Supreme King as well. With more physicality than the other.

“Aaaaand, I do this and-!” Taking out and placing Yubel’s card on the duel disk, with the help of his own powers was the other turned into a form as well. No longer a ghost. “-We’re game! Right guys?”

‘Guys’ who very much weren’t impressed, and more confused than anything. One wearing far too many edges on his outfit contrary to the expressions on the face, and the other waving its wings, frowning at its… _former_ enemy. Jesse just sheepishly smiled it away.

“Don’t think for _even a second_ —”

“Nope, we’re not doing that,” Jaden interrupted his spirit glaring a little too intensely at the bluenette. “I got you here to play a game with us,”

Thankfully, Yubel’s mood changes were swift and easy, and its attention quickly diverged over at the words.

“A game?”

“Yeah,”

The spirit leaned closer to its host, studying the cards Jaden held, having to pull his copy to look over as well who gave a moody response in return.

“I’ve no interest in your nonsense,”

Haou’s royal voice replied mid-explanation, already have had enough of the charade. He earned every pair of disappointed gazes thrown.

Though the cruel and cold heart went unaffected.

“Don’t waste my time,”

And just as the entirety of the figure was about to fade back into the brunette, one – the one who knew its friend best – disrupted that.

“Has time passed enough that _you_ run away from a challenge?”

Yubel’s tone could be heard mocking its friend’s runaway. And when golden eyes sharply turned, a pair of fangs on the parted blue lips grinned at the reaction. The smug face, the pitying eyes, and the draconic smirk – the fiend’s sheer size straightened and out-intimidating his smaller posture.

All of it waiting for him to _leave_ and then _walk over that crushed pride._

Because as respectful as his best friend was, he knew _exactly_ who this was and what they were like. This was a _monster_ – in more ways than the obvious one.

“Only you were the fool that ran away,”

The Supreme King straightened his posture as well, and properly sat next to his copy, now seemingly even more ready for a battle that _definitely_ wasn’t a simple board game. And Yubel huffed out a satisfied hum at the job well done. Now it awaited at the next step of _crushing_ that stupid Scandanavian. Because the three of them _would—_

“Alright, well, now that we’re four people, we can start! Yubel, you’re with Jesse,”

\--Would-

“What!?”

Such a loud roar echoed throughout the room, that the teen in question flinched, and Jaden was poking his eardrum at the volume.

“Sheesh… Look, you guys really need to work on bonding, and so do-“ One glanced over at the king that still held his murderous aura. “-uh, we,”

“But I want to be with you!”

You – both of them. Two brunettes and it couldn’t be with either one. _Really?_

“You’re with me all the time Yubel! If you don’t wanna be with Jesse, then I will—”

“NO!”

Without even the finishing the thought there, the fiend interrupted its host – yell louder than the rest. But this one was afraid, so very, very _afraid._ Afraid of the past repeating itself, afraid of _him_ being more important, _closer_ to Jaden.

“Whatever! I’ll be with the idiot! Just… Just don’t go with him…!”

The desperation and frustration in its voice heard, Yubel was easy to break.

“…ungh!”

And easy to recover.

Hopping over to the opposite side, the large figure sat itself next to its partner, wings curtained, refusing to even meet their gazes. Heterochromatic eyes glancing at the side; hurt.

“H-hey it’ll be fun, c’mon,”

Jesse tried, daring to put a hand over the spiked shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!”

Needless to say, it retreated very quick.

“A little handicap too much for you, is it? The sort of Guardian I have-“

Contrary to the king’s, his friend’s temper was far too quick to engage. He already caught the outburst of yells.

“I’ll be FINE!”

Challenge imposed and challenge accepted, the fiend mimicked its battle-ready _stance_ and glared at the two brunettes.

“…Okay, well,” Jaden tried, testing the atmosphere, checking for more _yelling._ And when it all seemed safe; “Here. Each of us draws a card and we’ll start!”

They all did, as tense as the air around was, and no soon after the brunette team made the first announcement. It was a starting lie, a beginning of the game. Obvious to all, Jaden started with a made-up story, but his opponents didn’t really have enough info to debunk the actual truth. At least not yet. So Jesse and Yubel gathered what they could. From the stuttered words, avoiding expressions, and defensive tones. Some of them truths, others not so much.

Then came the fiend’s own turn. Questioning some of Jaden’s own antics, its story, too, came into fold. The interrogation wasn’t as nearly pushy as Yubel’s own, at least not from Jaden’s side. His mirror sooner than later took over that. And every strict _demand_ from the Supreme King was just as strongly justified by the other.

“And how would have that been the accurate location of the witness at the time of the victim’s claim? For what you are saying, it's either a lie, or a gimmick in your supposed accusation,"

“Wrong. I’ve stated earlier the reason of the previous occurrence. It was the victim’s _choice_ rather than perjury you think it is. The carnage of his death is the lie,” Yubel swiftly replied – far too many of those words being out of this timeline. “Or do you believe I would _oh-so_ _deceive_ my beloved king?”

The last of that statement was poison to the tale.

“If I recall, you’ve done so before,” Haou replied nonchalantly, seemingly reminiscing of his and Yubel’s past. “When was the time of your claim?”

“Seven-thirty PM,”

Breath after breath. No doubt of each own’s story.

“Where?”

“At his home,”

Without a pause, what one asked, the other answered.

“And the witness was present at the time, correct?”

“Yes,”

And for a small second, but present enough to be seen, Haou smirked.

“Very well. If that is all, then it’s my turn,” The fiend caught glance of that uncharacteristic grimace as well, and as sharp as its appearance was – got on even more edge. “Your partner should be able to back all of those claims up,”

For a reason now too.

Yubel choked back a sound, all confidence it had fading, face growing weary of its friend’s _actual_ plan. Use that little issue for his advantage. _A little handicap too much for you?’_ Echoed the words. But no, _no._ The reply to that was that a handicap was _not_ an issue and it would _manage_ with it. There was absolutely no backing down from that.

And thus, Jesse received a very, _very_ heated glare. One that spoke out far too many threats with mute silence. And most of them worst than last. Every single eye Yubel had pierced him inside out.

Maybe this idea wasn’t such a smart one.

“Don’t worry, I got this,”

That lie would probably the best one he would say.

“You _better_ do,”

The fiend lowly replied, and in came its ancient friend’s turn.

“Anderson,”

Jesse quickly met the golden eyes, the feeling of a harsh judgement to come creeping up to devour him.

“Yeah?”

And then;

Questions.

So, so many questions that were greeted with ‘uuhh…’ and ‘umm, yes?’ and ‘maybe haha,’ and every innocent little make-up improvisation that Jesse could think of. In fact, they were all so ridiculous and quite, _quite_ off Yubel’s track of story that both teens chuckled at Jesse’s failed attempts. All in all, two out of four had fun, and the air of snorts and jokes filled as long as the two brunettes and Jaden kept talking.

Less so with the moody king laughing, but his point was off that. His point was proven – with the two giggling or not.

And that’s what hurt most.

_That’s_ what induced the silent rage the fiend fueled off of each laughging matter Jesse made. 

“—I suppose I’ve nothing else to ask,”

For a moment, golden eyes met the dragon’s, but neither made any motion nor reference. The king deciding to calmly sway his attention elsewhere over the indirect dominance, and his dragon;

His dragon dared not say a word.

Not out of fear or shame. Not out of vulnerability or pride. No, out of sheer _control_ it didn’t trust itself it _had_ not to _hurt_ its host’s best friend.

To sink those claws into the flesh and tear it open in such painful ways—

“And Jay! When did this all happen?”

To rip his vocal chords out and gauge his _pretty little green eyes_ out—

“Haha, you’re as bad of a liar as I am ain’t ‘cha?”

_To break every single bone in his body so he may never even move within Jaden’s range—_

“—Earth to Yubel! What got you thinkin’ so hard ya can’t even hear Jaden?”

“…What?”

The fiend reopened its eyes and cleared its thoughts, noticing its host calling out with a smile.

Well, at least that smile melted away some of the rage.

“Spaced out? Thought you had enough of that,” Yubel flinched at the grim joke. “I got some questions for ya,”

The fiend nodded and responded to the conversation of the game. Nowhere near with enough passion and confidence as with the Supreme King, but the answers were intelligent enough not to find any sort of opening. If there was a hole of flaws in their story – it was definitely Jesse. 

Without much to go with, Jaden hummed out his unimproved conclusion and ended the turn.

And though this was the peak opportunity to gain some advantage in the game, there wasn’t enough will to put in effort this time. Despite it being Yubel’s turn, the dragon found it hopeless after its partner’s outburst of… nonsense. Whatever it would say, Jesse would most definitely somehow find a way to counter and ruin that.

It felt as if the game was three against one, even.

But the turn couldn’t be simply skipped, so two or three questions were directed at Haou. And he replied the usual monotone voice. Debunked the first, then defended himself against the second, and then…

Then, the heterochromatic eyes perked up.

_Then_ he said something – a crucial keyword – that doesn’t match up to the rest. One of the statements in the story, and the fiend’s memory served it well, it was a hole within the rest. Finally, _finally_ the Haou made a mistake, and his friend would jump at the opportunity to gnaw at it.

With a change of attitude, Yubel quickly ended the turn, not to seem suspicious as to alert its friend of the misstep as well. Though it seemed unlikely of the king to make such a mistake, the fiend didn’t want to question it too much. If this would be their team’s one way to win, then the reason mattered little.

“Then it’s my turn,”

And if this was to be their triumph, then _neither of them could have Jesse ruin it._

“Pause! Bathroom break. Keep an eye out on ‘em for me, I'll be right back,”

Jaden exclaimed to his copy, and jumped up and out of the room, which served to be an almost-perfect situation for Yubel’s plan. Surely the brunette’s darker half was far more on the observant side, but even he had his weaknesses.

Probably.

One of those being that he cared for very few things.

A glance over at him to confirm that – and indeed was the Supreme King minding his own business, attention nowhere in particular, and even less so on the two facing him. Another one at the European teen that was meddling with his pad, scrolling some things, also unknowing of the consequences about to hit him, and it was a safe bet to _try._

So with little effort on movement, and a subtle ‘stretch’, the fiend cackled its large left wing all around, making sure it didn’t seem too off in what it was doing – and when it landed in front to cover both of its own and Jesse’s faces, the swift opportunity was taken.

All in no less than a split second, a claw pulled the blunette’s face up by the chin and away from the pad, green eyes widening, and a barely low sound escaping for Yubel to work its magic and take some control over the teen.

And just like that. Back to the ways of possession, all for a bigger means.

Not world-controlling bigger, but bigger than whatever the limit over possessing the boy was.

Safe to continue, Yubel removed the wing back to its curtained position, albeit more at the front now, checking if its friend noticed anything – to which he didn’t.

Certainly didn’t ‘keep his eye on them’ as Jaden said.

And the operation was a success!

“Alright, sorry ‘bout that,”

Speak of the devil and he returns. Every move was to be made cautiously now, as whatever movement the _fiend_ made would be what Jesse’s body would. But asides from that, the dragon could play out Jaden’s best friend _fine._

Minus the orange eyes. There was no helping that.

“Whose turn is it?”

The brunette asked, and using the wing technique to cover the front, Yubel made some awkward movements in itself, and got Jesse to lift a hand up.

“Mine!”

“Was it not mine?”

Haou questioned, and Jesse’s face sheepishly smiled.

“Yeah, I mean, you’re gonna ask me, right?”

 _Right?_ Because if he didn’t, then the effort of doing this would be pointless.

“Correct. Let’s begin then,”

Right it was.

This time, Jesse’s answers were… quite convincing, to say the least. Every accusation was successfully justified, as much as Yubel could do it. Thankfully, the majority of the game was with words – and not movements – which made the lies easier. And Haou wasn’t too acknowledged with the teen’s own personality to question the sudden and _very_ major change in, well, everything.

Jaden was though. And the fact he _wasn’t_ doing that was worrisome. He had yet to put actual attention back to the game, the pad proving more interesting. And then;

“Hey Yubel,”

The fiend flinched in _both_ bodies at the name, and recomposed its own position to answer as itself.

“Hm?”

“You two have been getting along after all!”

_The most obvious lie of them all._

Well, maybe not _that_ obvious. Maybe he still hasn’t figured it out.

“…Pfft…”

A snort escaped the fiend at the statement, and it prepared to play out the last part of the round. It was just Jesse that had to ask Jaden—

“Uhh… Jess?”

“Yeah, it’s my turn!”

Though the acting was still convincing – or so one hoped – this was the first time the brunette _looked_ _at_ his best friend.

“Nah it’s… not that,”

“Aww c’mon, I got some pretty good stuff to ask you!”

Just this. _Just to get over this._

“Mm, but Jesse,”

Jaden questioned again, staring the other right in the eyes – and Yubel swallowed in its throat.

“Y-yeah?”

Then some more staring, some more humming, and it was enough for even the king to observe the situation.

With silence. The dreaded and heavy silence. With no speech. No outing, no confirming, _nothing._ It would eat the fiend inside out, but it’ll be damned if it gave up the façade now.

Far too late for that.

And then it was broken. With such a loose question, so lacking of suspicion.

So very innocent.

“You sure you’re okay?”

And Yubel let go of a deep breath, thinking all the performance was of naught.

“’Course! Why?”

But alas, it worked—

“Because the whole different eye colors is more my thing, not yours,”

“…”

“And you really gotta practice your accent,”

At this point, it was sarcasm.

The fiend scoffed, frowning at the two, wing now removed.

“…Don’t make fun of me! He’s useless! And you two are cheating!”

Yubel spat out multiple excuses, seeing which one would work best. Though the male only sighed at the call-out, eyeing his spirit with a displeased face.

“C’mon Yubel, this game was meant for us to have fun,”

“It’s not fun when he can’t do anything right!”

Such a child, truly.

“You two took this way too seriously…”

There was a moment of silence, the spirit pouting with crossed arms, letting go of the control over the other. And Jesse took a moment to refresh himself, his _consciousness_ , realizing and catching up to the situation, only to frown at Yubel.

“Had your fun didja…”

None of them made a remark at that, the entire atmosphere changed for the worse.. Though this time, it was Haou that broke the silence.

“So you _have_ noticed…”

Heterochromatic eyes glanced up, only to notice a rather meek face of its host averted, and a somewhat different one one of his reincarnation.

“What?”

“Our fraud. Have you not?”

“Y…” The spirit lost its face in bafflement, mouth agap, momentary silence. Disbelief settling in. “You DID cheat!!”

“W-wait, that before was a bluff-?”

Though Jesse tried to question, the amount of rage that burst out of the spirit was far too loud for any intrusion. It was far too much for Yubel, even, and instead of resulting to yelling, it simply stormed out of the room and into another. Clearly, this was more than just being upset, and none could really say a thing. Though the bluenette’s voice did ask;

“Did you really cheat?”

And Jaden scratched his cheek, looking away.

“Well… We did kinda talk to each other with the whole mind link thing…”

Taking cheating to a whole new level.

“I had made sure Yubel wouldn’t notice,”

“Dude!”

Jesse exclaimed with disbelief as well.

“Don’t ‘dude’ me! _Dude_ you got possessed!”

“I didn’t agree to that! You two did on yours!”

And that was a fair point. One couldn't have an argument against it. The whole thing was a mess overall.

“Well, whatever. Let’s take a short break and get a rematch,"

To which all agreed. A bit of stretching, a bathroom break, gathering more chips and crisps and monster spirits. That who knows stormed off where. Likely not far, but… Regardless of that, Jesse found himself in the bathroom.

Nothing unusual. A little wash-up, a check-up n the mirror, and—

“ ** _You,_ ”**

And Yubel. In his face.

“Me,”

Voice cooly confirmed. Though it was somewhat of a concerning sight, this was Yubel’s _usual_ when he was the one in question.

“You!!”

It grew even more concerning when the spirit shoved him into the wall, hovering far too close for comfort. That got a sound out of the male, but he only frowned back.

“—ungh, what _about_ me?!”

“Why do you always have to ruin EVERYTHING!”

The same conversation that would be repeated for an eternity. They’ve had this berate far too many, and not a single time the bluenette tried to reason with the other did it work.

Instead this time, he tried a different approach.

“Calm down! Unless you want Jaden to come in…?!”

“I don’t care if he comes in!” For a moment even that seemed in vain, but then Yubel’s voice started lowering. “I don’t…! I just… I hate you _so_ much you stupid--!” _Something._ He didn’t even hear the rest. Some words mumbled under the breath, and others cut before more anger appeared. All of it deserving of a sigh.

“Look, I’m _sorry_ I couldn’t understand what you meant. I really wanted to try working together with you,” He got enough attention that every single eye Yubel had stared at him. “But I can’t do much when you go around picking up every excuse to hate me,”

“Hmph… So what,”

Maybe not the ‘progress’ type of reply, but he wasn’t being pinned into the wall anymore.

Now he was just awkwardly standing under the other’s size.

“As Jay said, let’s try working together. They want a rematch, wanna beat ‘em with me?” With that question lingering, Jesse smiled, offering a hand. “Heck, I’ll even let you possess me so we can mutually have a little chat like they did!” That was a bit of a wild offer, and Yubel blinked at the words. Understandable, really.

“Is your thick skull even aware of what it's saying?”

“I'm not sure, but I asked now anyway. Would it work?"

A genuine question. And even Yubel didn’t know. Consensual possession wasn’t something _normal._ Even for possession standards.

“I don’t know,”

Another smile, and Jesse brought a hand of partnership to offer.

“Then let’s find out!” That was which would seal the deal. To shake that hand. The decision was… heavier than expected. “You wanted to beat them, right? We can do it,” And it did. It wanted to beat Haou, to show its ancient friend that it was more than capable of winning a competition – just as back then when they played.

To Jaden, too, that the dragon was worthy of protecting them both.

And well, the spirit was generally extremely competitive.

Maybe that reason dominated over the rest.

It definitely dominated over the rest.

“Fine. Let’s go,”

That wasn’t really a choice, as the moment the male was free, he was just as so dragged out of the bathroom and at the former seat with the other two.

“Clogged the bathroom huh,”

Jesse laughed.

“And you clogged the chips,”

“I did! What are you gonna do about it?!”

Jaden challenged this time, and his best friend decided to take the offer seriously.

“We’re gonna beat you, that’s what! Ready Yubel?”

And the fiend answered, eyeing its own challenger.

“You _will_ lose _, my king._ I'll make you remember why I won our sessions,"

Neither would the leader himself allow such treachery of his very own soldier. The stern face spoke for itself.

“Then game on pal!”


End file.
